Ohio State got a small lift in the playoff picture last weekend, but the real movement came elsewhere. Oregon dropped another game, and that matters in the Big Ten race. LSU and Florida both picked up their second loss in the SEC, and now the season is starting to sort itself out in a hurry.
That sets up a loaded Week 7 slate with several games that could reshape the playoff board, and one of the biggest is coming in Bloomington when No. 4 Ohio State visits No. 5 Indiana.
It’s a rematch of last season’s Big Ten Championship game, only this time it lands roughly 50 miles south of Lucas Oil Stadium. The setting gives this one a different feel, and the stakes are enormous.
For both teams, a playoff trip is starting to look like something fans can plan around. That feeling is especially strong around Indiana, which is still unbeaten and should be favored by double digits in every game left on its schedule except maybe USC.
Even if the Hoosiers lose Saturday, they still look positioned to be fine. Ohio State, though, has more pressure hanging over the rest of its schedule.
The Buckeyes still have USC, ranked Northwestern, a road trip to Nebraska, and the Michigan rivalry game ahead. If they leave Bloomington with a win, it’s hard to see them dropping two more.
But their margin for error is already thin after that 20-point fourth-quarter collapse in Austin.
There’s another game on the board that could function as a straight-up elimination spot: No. 16 Mississippi State at No.
22 LSU. The loser of that one is going to be in serious trouble.
Mississippi State would need to finish with wins at Texas and at Ole Miss. LSU’s road is even steeper, because a loss would leave the Tigers needing to run the table through Alabama, Texas, and at Tennessee, and they’d likely still need help to become the first three-loss team to make the 12-team playoff.
Then there’s the Third Saturday in October, with No. 6 Alabama facing No.
14 Tennessee. The stakes are exactly what you’d expect.
If Tennessee gets the win, the whole picture gets a lot more interesting. Alabama would have no room left for mistakes with a trip to Baton Rouge still ahead, while Tennessee would have a little more breathing room despite a tough November.
If Alabama wins, the path is cleaner. The Crimson Tide would be positioned to get to 11-1 and right back in the CFP conversation if they handle the rest of their business.
Tennessee, on the other hand, would need to win out with Kentucky and LSU still on the schedule. The Volunteers haven’t been able to win a game this big since the last time Alabama came to Knoxville in 2024.
No. 13 Missouri’s trip to No.
9 Ole Miss is another one worth watching closely. Missouri’s win over Florida looks less impressive now after the Gators got crushed by South Carolina, but the Tigers also backed it up by beating Texas A&M badly at home.
Now they get a road test against an Ole Miss team that lost to that same Florida squad Missouri just handled. The transitive property only goes so far in football, but it still points to a matchup that should tell us a lot.
It’s not a classic elimination game, but whoever loses will be staring at a tougher path from here. This one feels revealing for both teams, and maybe for the SEC picture as a whole.
No. 2 Notre Dame’s season also gets going in a serious way Saturday night at No.
8 BYU. A win in Provo likely puts the Irish right back in the playoff after narrowly missing out last year.
That miss stung because Notre Dame dropped its two biggest games on an otherwise weak schedule. This year’s path is even thinner, with only two big games on the docket, and this is one of them.
If Notre Dame wins, it’s in even with a loss to Miami in November. If the Irish lose, that Miami game becomes a must-win, since there’s no conference title to fall back on.
BYU’s side of the equation is a little different. The Cougars are still unbeaten, and they should be headed back to Dallas for the Big 12 title game if they take care of business in Salt Lake City in a few weeks.
But this game matters for the conference too. A BYU win would raise the odds that the Big 12 gets multiple playoff teams. BYU could still get in at 11-1 or 12-1 with a loss in the conference championship game, as long as that Notre Dame win is on the résumé.
And then there’s Wisconsin at No. 12 UCLA, a matchup that would have sounded strange in mid-October not all that long ago.
Instead, it arrives with real Big Ten and playoff weight. Both teams are unbeaten in conference play, and UCLA is coming off a win in Eugene.
Wisconsin is entering the first game of a three-game stretch against ranked opponents. The Badgers need at least two wins in that run, then they’d still have to run the table to stay in playoff conversations.
UCLA, meanwhile, doesn’t face another ranked opponent until USC comes to the Rose Bowl at season’s end. That makes this one especially important for Wisconsin, since the Badgers already have a loss.
There’s also the chance Nico Iamaleava could be out for the season.
In Other News...
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Marvin Harrison Jr. is heading from Arizona to Houston, and the move puts him back alongside the quarterback who helped make him one of the most electric receivers in college football. For Ohio State fans, it is a reminder of how quickly Harrisons Buckeye rsum came together, from big nights in the 2022 Rose Bowl and the 2023 Sugar Bowl to the kind of complete performance he delivered against Penn State in 2022.
The trade also gives Harrison a fresh chance after a difficult NFL start, and it arrives with a familiar face at quarterback in C.J. Stroud. For a former Buckeye star trying to reset his momentum, the reunion brings back the kind of setting where his talent looked at its most natural, and it leaves one obvious question hanging over the next chapter of his career. [Read more 🡒]
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Ryan Day sounded encouraged this week about Ohio States health heading into Indiana, saying most of the six starters who missed the Maryland game are expected back. That group included Brandon Inniss, Devin McCuin, Austin Siereveld, Phillip Daniels, Christian Alliegro and Jay Timmons, with some of those absences tied to non-football-related issues. Getting that much experience back would matter for a Buckeyes team trying to keep its rhythm intact as the season tightens.
Indiana, though, gives Ohio State little margin for error. Day pointed to the Hoosiers recent success and made clear they are not the kind of opponent to take lightly, especially with lineup questions still hanging over his own side. The Buckeyes should be closer to full strength, but this matchup still comes with one obvious layer of uncertainty: exactly how quickly those returning starters can settle back in and how much of the rotation changes with them. [Read more 🡒]